- average bitrate
- Denotes a lossy file with a variable bitrate that has a specified average.
- compression ratio
- The ratio of the originial data to the compressed data. A 10 megabyte WAV file encoded to a 5 megabyte FLAC file would have a 2:1 compression ratio.
- contant bitrate
- Denotes a lossy file with the same bitrate throughout the file. The main advantage is that the file size won't change and can be accurately predicted.
- FLAC
- An acronym for Free Lossless Audio Codec, a GPL-licensed lossless audio format.
- lossless
- Denotes a media format that maintains the quality of the original media file, sometimes utilizing compression techniques that can maintain quality and achieve a lower file size.
- lossy
- Denotes a media format that degrades the quality of the original media file in order to achieve a lower file size.
- MP3
- The most widespread lossy audio format.
- variable bitrate
- Denotes a lossy file that has an optimal bitrate for each part of the file.